India: International Co-operation Necessary to Track Corruption and Recover Assets CBI Special Director

Source:

timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Source Date:

Monday, November 19, 2012

Focus:

Thematic Website

Country:

India

Created:

Nov 20, 2012

KOLKATA: The need of the hour is to build international co-operation among law enforcement agencies to battle global corruption and recover assets, V K Gupta, special director, CBI said at the 2nd Interpol Global Programme on Anti Corruption and Asset Recovery in New Delhi on Monday. The theme of the programme is "Corruption - A Multi Jurisdictional Investigation". It is being attended by over 29 participants from the Maldives, Malaysia, Fiji, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Bhutan, Nepal and India. Senior Interpol officers are also participating in the programme.

Gupta inaugurated the conference and said that corruption has taken centrestage in many countries and emerged as the most important issue concerning polity and public life. According to him, the battle against global corruption has to be fought at many levels. "The design of any government's development programme should provide more transparency and accountability. Systems and procedures which are opaque, complicated, centralized and discretionary are a fertile breeding ground for the evil of corruption. Countries need to engage with each at different levels to effectively block all physical escape routes for fugitives who are blatantly indulging in corrupt practices," the special director said.

CBI special director K Saleem Ali said that asset recovery and impounding of proceeds of corruption is extremely important. According to him, this is one factor that really hits those indulging in corrupt activities. "An 'ethical ambience' is required in society which promotes transparency, accountability and equitable distribution of powers to combat the menace of corruption," he said.

Additional director R K Dutta said that new sophisticated and ingenuous methods are being adopted by those indulging in corruption, to transfer proceeds of crime to various countries through dubious channels. He said that there is a need for law enforcement agencies to equip themselves with updated knowledge, skills and techniques to fight corruption.

The five-day Interpol Global programme, being organized by the CBI, will have over 14 sessions to be addressed by experts from Interpol, CBI, NIA, FBI, World Bank, Europol, CFSL and other law enforcement organizations. Some of the issues to be dealt with include Role of international Organizations in Asset Recovery, Active Vs Passive Bribery, Intelligence Collection in Anti-Corruption Cases & Asset Recovery, Detection, Investigation and Prosecution of Corruption in Exploitation of Natural Resources, Computer Forensics, and issues in mutual legal assistance and extradition in asset tracking and recovery.

The CBI, the Interpol's National Central Bureau in India, had organized the first such Interpol Global programme in February, 2012.

India: International Co-operation Necessary to Track Corruption and Recover Assets CBI Special Director

The need of the hour is to build international co-operation among law enforcement agencies to battle global corruption and recover assets V K Gupta special director CBI said at the 2nd Interpol Global Programme on Anti Corruption and Asset Recovery in New Delhi on Monday